DESCRIPTION: The Training Program in Nephrology at the University of Michigan is designed to prepare post-doctoral trainees with either M.D. or Ph.D. degrees for a career in basic, epidemiology/outcomes or clinical Nephrology research. Training will be carefully designed and individually tailored for each trainee and will combine a didactic program with a mentored research experience. The proposed Training Program will provide 2 or more years of postdoctoral research training in Nephrology to MD trainees in 3 areas: a) basic laboratory research;b) outcomes and epidemiology research;and c) clinical research, including biomedical engineering research. Ph.D. trainees will receive intensive basic laboratory or biomedical engineering research training. Four trainees will be appointed yearly. The Training Program will be provided by 43 faculty members from 13 departments and 5 schools/colleges, all of whom have substantial training experience. Given the considerable scientific collaboration among the various members of the Program Faculty, there will be ample opportunity for a given trainee to gain research experience in more than one research setting during his or her training experience. Trainees will enroll in intensive didactic programs depending on their research track. Those in the basic science track will complete a three month Postgraduate Research Training Program. Those in the epidemiology/outcomes track will complete a Masters of Public Health program in Biostatistics and Epidemiology or a Masters of Science program in the Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis course. Those in the clinical/bioengineering track will complete a summer program in clinical trials and design and will design a more extensive clinical or biomedical research curriculum based on research interests, including courses in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Weekly seminar series conducted by the Training Program will continue the formal curricula. Mentored research will be supported by the resources of the Medical School, the Department of Internal Medicine, the Division of Nephrology, the individual faculty members, and by the George M. O'Brien Renal Center (for basic research), the Kidney Epidemiology and Cost Center (for epidemiology/outcomes research), and the Renal Research Institute Consortium (for clinical and epidemiology/outcomes research). All trainees will be required to submit individual fellowship or grant applications and abstracts for national meetings during their training. Based on this training and the excellent track record of graduates from the Training Program in Nephrology, fellows will be well positioned for independent careers in Nephrology research